Bits: Update on former Benton and SIU coach Rich Herrin

Saturday

Mar 10, 2018 at 12:52 PM

Younger fans, even some middle-age fans (depending on what age is defined as "middle"), probably can't recall a day when there was no coaches box that theoretically restrains basketball coaches from wandering wherever they want.

No single coach can lay claim to being the one whose behavior forced rulesmakers to delineate the box, but one who could certainly be in the mix is Rich Herrin.

Now 85, Herrin was a demonstrative fellow on the sideline when he coached Benton to the Class AA state tournament in 1984. As he aged, he became less physically engaged, but was always boisterous.

Anyway, Herrin's name comes up because of the story the Journal Star's Dave Allen wrote for the Saturday newspaper on Dick Corn, who coached Pinckneyville to state titles in 1991 and 2001. (Pinckneyville lost to Winnebago in the 2A semifinals Friday at Carver Arena.) Corn recalled playing for Herrin at Benton, and they remain close. Herrin is still active with a summer camp for junior high and another for high school at McKendree University.

“We’ve tried to get him to slow down,” Corn said. “We finally told him last summer, 'Coach, you don’t have to be out there, refereeing games and stuff. You don’t need to be doing that.”

Maybe he likes it.

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